Left, BSP come together to fight government

NEW DELHI: The common cause of opposition to the nuclear deal on Sunday brought Left parties and BSP together, which decided to jointly fight against the UPA government on the Indo-US agreement and other issues.
     
Reaching out to BSP, which has 17 MPs in the Lok Sabha, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat drove to Mayawati's residence here to hold the first meeting with her in the wake of recent political developments.
     
They decided to cooperate to ensure defeat of the Congress-led government during confidence vote in the Lok Sabha on July 22.
     
After the 45-minutes meeting, the Marxist leader hailed Mayawati's opposition to the nuclear deal and said the two sides decided that they should cooperate in the "struggle" against the deal.
    
"Mayawati reiterated her opposition to the deal. It was decided that there should be cooperation to stop the deal and in the struggle against the UPA government in this regard," Karat said.
    
Significantly, Karat's meeting with Mayawati came a day after the CPI(M) condemned filing of a fresh affidavit by CBI against the BSP chief in a disproportionate assets case.
    
The CBI action was also condemned by CPI, whose General Secretary A B Bardhan raised questions over the timing of filing of the affidavit.
    
He said the Left parties are in touch with Mayawati who has assured them that BSP will vote against the government during the trial of strength.